One or more embodiments disclosed within this specification relate to storage providers. More particularly, one or more embodiments relate to managing storage providers in a clustered appliance environment.
Workload optimized systems (WoS) are computer systems that are optimized for specific kinds of workloads. In a WoS, servers, storage and network solutions are optimized to support a focused solution. In one type of WoS, management software can be provided to manage certain aspects of the WoS, such as servers, networks and storage subsystems. The management software can provide management personnel with a single point of control, thus helping to reduce IT management complexity and cost.
A storage subsystem typically includes a storage controller and one or more storage devices. A software component, known as an SMI-S provider and configured in accordance with the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S), can be implemented logically within the system hierarchy between the management software and one or more storage controllers. The SMI-S provider enables the management software to manage the storage controllers using a standard interface based on the Common Information Model (CIM) protocol. In this regard, the management software and the SMI-S provider can cooperatively manage the storage controllers. In a clustered appliance environment, a number of storage subsystems generally are used. Thus, many SMI-S providers may be used. In this regard, a plurality of servers may be provided to host the SMI-S providers; each of these servers typically executes an SMI-S provider instance.